Anti-vaccine article questions the safety of the RSV vaccine

The article’s inflammatory nature and its potential to cause vaccine hesitancy raises the risk. Debunking messaging may explain that the FDA rigorously reviewed clinical trial safety data before recommending the vaccine during the second or third trimester to protect newborns, who are particularly vulnerable to RSV. Messaging may also emphasize that the claim misrepresents clinical trial data that found a slight but not statistically significant increase in preterm birth, which means that the increase could be due to chance rather than related to the vaccine. It’s also important to note that the vaccinated group’s preterm birth rate was lower than the national average.

Fact-Checking Source(s):

• CIDRAP, PBS